While Offenbach's dream of a serious opera was never fully realized—he died before fully completing a final edition of Les Contes d'Hoffmann—Les Brigands is closer to that world than many of his earlier operettas, which were largely strings of various musical numbers, strung together only loosely by a plot. While the text contains the typical jabs at various elements of society (in this case, policemen and financiers), it is given a more careful dramatic construction. The music is vintage Offenbach, with lively choruses (particularly the various policemen's choruses) and pleasing arias, such as the prince's sentimental farewells to all of his previous loves. Offenbach's operetta had a strong influence on The Pirates of Penzance (produced in 1870, ten years later), though the French operetta is more sardonic in its protrayal of the police than the rather affectionate treatment of the English police forces.

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